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After a long winter off, I have been describing my behavior lately as a "fishing drunk." Seems like I haven't been home much in the last month and a half and fishing is the reason. Some of the trips were already scheduled but I have worked in a few more and the bottom line is......I have been "fishing my face off." I have been blessed to have these opportunities and friends and relatives to go with. What can I say, " I love my job!"

After attending Colin's, my oldest grandson's, graduation in Delano in early June, we headed back to Oregon with middle grandson, Alec. Our first outing happened right after we got back and met up with buddy, John Werwie for some brown trout action. John had already been there for a few days but really poor weather in the form of heavy rain had kept him off the water the first few days. Alec and I met him Wed. evening and after dinner, we got right out to see what the evening bite might bring.

There was a slight breeze and conditions seemed right. Alec and I fished from my boat and John was in his smaller aluminum Gregor. Right away Alec and I started to pop some browns. The first evening count was (8) hooked with (5) landed. It turned out to be our best outing of the trip. I was able to put Alec onto a couple of nice browns and we did end up with his top two going 5+ and 7 LB. I also stuck a nice 4 LB. hen to get on the scoreboard with a respectable brown.

The real highlight of the evening turned out to be something I have never seen and, in all probability, may never see again. Right after Alec had hooked up on the 7 LB. brown, he said it was really staying down and he was having trouble getting much line back. I checked his drag and suggested that he not tighten it up at all but just work with the fish carefully. The wind was a little stiff during the battle and I decided to get the boat out a little deeper in case we took awhile to get the fish in. At this point we had no idea how big it was and it was acting like a much bigger fish than it turned out to be. After about 5-7 minutes, he said "Grandpa, I think I am hung up." I said " Let me see the rod for a minute." Yep, it was snagged but I could still feel the fish. Soon thereafter, he couldn't feel anything but the distinct tightness of the snag.

From past experience, I knew there were several snags in proximity. I had lost and retrieved several lures in that area on previous trips. I decided I would bring out my trusty "Hound Dog" lure retriever. This device has saved me hundreds of dollars over the years and several of my friends have become believers after seeing me get the majority (maybe 80%) of my lures back in the last several years. We knew from the line counter that we were caught at about 15 feet down in 25 feet of turbid water. The wind made it really awkward and I couldn't get it to hook up. Finally, after the wind died a bit, I felt the lure pop off and was amazed to see the big trout, lure and a set of trolling blades ( probably got caught on the snag from some other unlucky angler) come to the top! I got the retriever off the line and Alec finally got her close and I netted her. What are the odds!?! Thought I should head to Vegas after that. After a few photos, we released the short fat hen to fight again.

The big trout of the trip came later one morning as we were contemplating heading back in for our morning snacks and a little nap. Getting up at 3:30 for the first light bite makes the mornings a little long. Anyway, we were heading across a small bay and saw John hook up about 200 yards ahead of us heading in our direction. I knew it had to be a better brown as John went for the net. He never goes for the net unless it is fairly big. At first, I thought he had finally broken the dreaded " Mothers Day Curse" and would land his first brown over 10 LB. in over 20 plus years of drought. Wasn't to be but the killer 9 LB. hookjaw was still a really nice brown and the bad boy put up a good fight. After a couple of photos from both our cameras, I slide him back.

It was a great trip and good to be out with my grandson, Alec, and buddy John. I will be trying to put Alec into a bigger brown than he caught last year at Paulina Lake. That hookjaw went 8 LB. and we will see if we can top that during the duration of his June vacation. Stay tuned for more reports.....looks like summer is finally here!

Tight Lines,
Rick